REVIEW PAPER OPEN ACCESS Chinese herbs and anti-infection immunity

Key words: immunity, tonic herb, diaphoretic herb, Qi. Chinese herbology originated in ancient China and has evolved over thousands of years, and is considered one part of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in western. Western medicine immune system is distributed throughout the body, and includes the tonsils, adenoids, lymph glands, bone marrow and so on. But there was no any concept for immune system in ancient Chinese medicine books, only used Qi and Blood to describe immune function. Tonic herbs can strengthen Qi and Blood, and keep balance of Qi and Blood to prevent exterior pathogenic influences; Diaphoretic herbs can boost and drive Qi and Blood to eradicate pathogens; some diaphoretic herbs can inhibit or eradicate some kind of bacteria directly. What are Qi and Blood in modern immunology science? How do Chinese herbs strengthen and boost immune system? This paper will provide a general overview of Chinese herbs and their anti-infection mechanisms that were delineated by modern researches